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Learning area: Language: Indonesian
Year level: Year 5, Year 6
Country: Indonesia
General capability: ICT capability, Intercultural understanding

This learning sequence examines the waste management strategies of reducing, reusing, recycling and composting. Students will:

  • record and analyse the waste data for their own lunches and snacks
  • share their findings with their 'study buddy' (Indonesian sister school counterparts)
  • plan, create and execute a promotional campaign – 'Kampanye Kurangi Dampak Lingkungan'– to reduce the impact on the environment by promoting the idea of  'reduce, reuse, recycle, compost' for their sister school in Indonesia and their wider school community
  • create an assessment rubric to evaluate the effectiveness of their promotional campaigns.

Key inquiry questions

  • How can we measure the waste being produced in our class, school or home?
  • How can we reduce the waste being produced in our class, school or home?
  • How does our waste compare to our Indonesian sister school counterparts?
  • How can we best promote recycling in our school community?
  • How can we gain greater social and intercultural understanding about waste issues in Indonesia?
A man pulls a cart laden with rubbish down a street in JakartaA rubbish collector in Jakarta

Activity 1: Waste management practices

In this activity, you will record and analyse the waste data for their own lunches and snacks, and share their findings with their 'study buddy' (Indonesian sister school counterparts).

Task 1: Tuning in Mari menonton iklan!

  1. Watch a variety of Indonesian TV public service announcements and advertisements (including the ones on the right) based on the strategies of reduce, reuse, recycle and compost. 
  2. After viewing, contribute to a class discussion on the wider issues around waste management.
  3. Discuss the similarities and differences between waste management issues in Australia and Indonesia. 

Task 2: Preparing to find (I) – Belajar cara mind map

  1. Create a mind map using the words reduce, reuse, recycle and compost as a starting point. Refer to the Kota kasa (vocabulary list) in the References to add to your vocabulary.

    • Kurangi (Reduce)
    • Pakai lagi (Reuse)
    • Daur ulang (Recycle)
    • Kompos (Compost)
  2. Use a software programme such as FreeMind (an easy to use mind mapping tool) to create your mind map, such as the one depicted below.A blue cluster map with empty thought bubbles and branchesSample mind map
  3. As you work through the following activities, revise your mind map and see if you can add to it.

Task 3: Preparing to find (II) – Tempat sampah yang mana?

  1. Look at the images in the slide show (on the right) of different types of waste and identify the Indonesian name for each waste item. Refer to the Kosa kata (vocabulary list) in the References to check your words.
  2. Once you are familiar with the waste vocabulary, watch the slide show again and decide which bin you would put each of the waste items in, using the following headings:
    • Daur ulang – Plastik – Gelas – Kaleng (aluminium) – Kertas/Karton
    • Kompos
    • Sampah.

Activity 2: Finding out – Memeriksa sampah di dalam kotak makan kamu!

In this activity, you will conduct an audit on the waste in your lunchbox and create a graph to show the results.

Task 1: Memeriksa sampah di dalam kotak makan kamu!

  1. Following lunch each day for a period of one week, observe any uneaten food and the packaging that constitutes waste in your lunchbox.
  2. Use the Memeriksa sampah di dalam kotak makan kamu template to record your waste expenditure for each day over the period of one week.
  3. Categorise your lunchbox waste into the various categories:
    • Daur ulang
      • Plastik
      • Gelas
      • Kaleng (aluminium)
      • Kertas/Karton
    • Kompos
    • Sampah
  4. Ask your 'study buddy' in Indonesia to complete an audit on their lunchbox waste over the period of one week.
  5. Discuss and compare results with your 'study buddy'.

Task 2: Sorting out – Berapa banyak sampah di dalam kotak makan kamu?

  1. After completing the lunchbox waste audit, create a graph to show the results using the given headings from the template.
  2. To create a graph, you could use an online programme such as Create a graph, a free online site with five different graphs and charts.
  3. Participate in a whole class discussion on the results from the lunchbox audit and the graphs.
  4. Discuss and compare the results of your graph with your 'study buddy' in Indonesia.

Activity 3: Tuning in (again) – Cara Anda membantu kurangi dampak lingkungan

Task 1: Cara Anda membantu kurangi dampak lingkungan

  1. View the two Indonesian video excerpts (on the right) and take notes about key issues raised.
  2. Participate in small group discussion about the wider issues of waste management and long term sustainability.
  3. Read the WWF Indonesia article (on the right); Cara Anda Membantu Kurangi Dampak Lingkungan
  4. Add to the list in the article by brainstorming a ways in which you can help reduce the impact on the environment, eg Mengganti tas plastik dengan tas kain.
  5. Search other Indonesian websites to assist with your brainstorm. 

Task 2: Going further – Membuatlah kampanye kurangi dampak lingkungan!

  1. Work individually or in pairs to plan a promotional campaign – 'Kampanye Kurangi Dampak Lingkungan'. For example, you could create a poster or produce a video.
  2. Investigate other Indonesian promotional advertisements online, such as the ones you have already viewed in this learning sequence, as they could be used as a model.
  3. Decide on the language/text and visuals you would like to use for your campaign and a software programme of your choice.
  4. Collaborate with your Indonesian sister school counterparts to discuss and implement your promotional campaign to encourage them (within their school and wider school community), to reduce the impact on the environment through the use of reduce, reuse, recycle and compost.
  5. To reciprocate, you could invite your Indonesian sister school to create a promotional campaign for you to use in your school and wider school community.

Task 3: Making connections – Kerja bersama! 

  1. Work collaboratively with your sister school in Indonesia to share your Kampanye Kurangi Dampak Lingkungan via Skype or by email, wiki or blog. 
  2. Invite their feedback on the suitability of a campaign like this for their school community.

Task 4: Assessment – Asesmen

  1. As a class, create a self-assessment rubric and use it to assess the effectiveness of your promotional campaign – Kampanye Kurangi Dampak Lingkungan.
  2. You could use the Languages Online rubric maker, an online tool to create student assessment sheets.

This learning sequence examines the waste management strategies of reducing, reusing, recycling and composting. Students have the opportunity to:

  • record and analyse the waste data for their own lunches and snacks
  • share their findings with their 'study buddy' (Indonesian sister school counterparts)
  • plan, create and execute a promotional campaign – 'Kampanye Kurangi Dampak Lingkungan' – to reduce the impact on the environment by promoting the idea of 'reduce, reuse, recycle, compost' for their sister school in Indonesia and their wider school community
  • create an assessment rubric to evaluate the effectiveness of their campaigns.

Students will undertake the following tasks:

  • identify and categorise items that can be recycled
  • record and analyse the waste data from their own lunchboxes
  • identify ways of monitoring waste volume and where improvements can be made
  • plan and execute a promotional campaign to promote the 3R's – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle – and Compost
  • use key vocabulary and phrases relating to waste reduction
  • develop intercultural understanding about issues with waste in Indonesia (Extension activities).
Prior learning

Before beginning this learning sequence, students should:

  • know some vocabulary for various foods and drinks, as well as some useful nouns and adjectives
  • know how to express likes and dislikes in relation to a variety of topics
  • understand the Indonesian counting system (tens, hundreds and thousands)
  • know how to address different people appropriately, e.g. Anda,& kamu, Bapak, Ibu.

Activity 1: Waste management practices

Task 1: Tuning in – Mari menonton iklan!

The video excerpts of Indonesian public service announcements and advertisements provide an opportunity for students to become engaged with the strategies of reduce, reuse, recycle and compost; and to further explore the wider issues around waste management.

Task 2: Preparing to find (I) – Belajar cara mind map

Students create an individual mind map that focuses on; reduce (Kurangi), reuse (Pakai lagi), recycle (Daur ulang) and compost (Kompos). Go to References for the Kosa kata (vocabulary list) for an extensive list of Indonesian words, nouns and verbs to describe waste and recycling.

Encourage students to continually go back and work on their mind map to add to it as they work their way through the learning sequence. It is important that students complete their mind map at the end of the learning sequence. This can be used as part of the students' assessment.

Students can use a software programme of their choice to create their mind map.

Task 3: Preparing to find (II) – Tempat sampah yang mana?

Use the Sampah Images slide show to conduct an activity for students to revise/learn various different types of waste vocabulary and labelling of recycling bins.

Firstly, play the slide show and ask students to identify the Indonesian name of each waste item. Once students are familiar with all the vocabulary, present the slide show again. Students should decide which bin they would use for each different waste item. Refer to the Kosa kata (vocabulary list) for relevant words. Students should use the following headings as a guide:

  • Daur ulang – Plastik, Gelas, Kaleng (aluminium), Kertas/Karton
  • Kompas
  • Sampah

Activity 2: Finding out – Memeriksa sampah di dalam kotak makan kamu! 

Task 1: Finding out – Memeriksa sampah di dalam kotak makan kamu!

Students conduct an audit on the waste in their lunchboxes. Students can use the Memeriksa sampah di dalam kotak makan template to record their waste expenditure for each day over the period of one week. Students should categorise their lunchbox waste into these categories:

  • Daur ulang
    • Plastik
    • Gelas
    • Kaleng (aluminium)
    • Kertas/Karton
  • Kompos
  • Sampah
Task 2: Sorting out – Berapa banyak sampah di dalam kotak makan kamu?

As a whole class discuss the results of the lunchbox waste audit. Students then create a graph to show the results from the lunchbox waste audit. They could use the online software Create a graph.

Facilitate a whole class discussion on the results from the lunchbox waste audit and the students' graphs. This could be followed by students discussing and comparing results with their 'study buddy' in Indonesia.

A further option could be that some students collaborate and create a graph to depict the waste audit as a whole class rather than individually. 

Discussion questions:

  • Which bins were filled the most?
  • Approximately what proportion of your lunchtime waste was collected as recycling rather than rubbish?
  • What percentage of your compost was composed of waste?<
  • Which was the most common item thrown out? Which was the least common?
  • How could you reduce the waste in your lunchbox?
  • How much of each category would there be over a month (and/or a year) if the same amount of packaging was collected every week? 

Activity 3: Tuning in (again) – Cara Anda membantu kurangi dampak lingkungan

Task 1: Cara Anda membantu kurangi dampak lingkungan

Various Indonesian online materials enable students to explore and delve deeper into the wider issues of waste management and long term sustainability.

As a whole class, discuss the materials provided, particularly the specific language used in the article written by World Wide Fund (WWF) Indonesia. The text is as follows:

  • Kurangi, pakai lagi dan daur ulang (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle)
  • Bantulah mengurangi tumpukan sampah dunia
  • Jangan gunakan produk 'sekali pakai' seperti piring dan sendok kertas atau pisau, garpu dan cangkir plastik
  • Gunakan baterai isi ulang
  • Pilih kalkulator bertenaga surya
  • Simpan makanan dalam wadah keramik, hinder

Ask students to add to the list above (from the WWF article) by brainstorming ways in which they can help reduce the impact on the environment. e.g. Mengganti tas plastik dengan tas kain.

Students can explore other Indonesian materials online to assist in the brainstorm, such as the links provided under the heading Visual Advertisements. Students can use these online materials as a model when creating their own promotional campaigns.

Task 2: Going further – Membuatlah kampanye kurangi dampak lingkungan!

Students are given the opportunity to apply their understandings and Indonesian language skills by creating their own Indonesian promotional campaign – 'Kampanye Kurangi Dampak Lingkungan'. Their campaigns are to educate and encourage others to 'Reduce the impact on the environment' through the use of; reduce, reuse, recycle and compost for their Indonesian sister school and wider school community. 

Students may work individually or in pairs to plan and execute a promotional campaign of their choice such as a poster or a video.

Students investigate Indonesian promotional advertisements online (such as those they have viewed previously in this learning sequence) and use these as models for their own promotional campaigns. A discussion about relevant language/text and visual materials to be used would be useful.

Your Indonesian sister school could also complete the same task and share their promotional campaign with your students, school and the wider school community.

Before creating the promotional advertisement video, ensure that the whole class has collaborated on outlining all the assessment points for this task, which will form the rubric. 

Task 3: Making Connections – Kerja bersama!

Students share their Kampanye Kurangi Dampak Lingkungan with their sister school in Indonesia via Skype, email, wiki or blog.

Task 4: Assessment – Asesmen

As previously discussed with the class, students assess themselves on their Kampanye Kurangi Dampak Lingkungan using the rubric that they have created as a whole class.

A link to the Languages Rubric Maker from Languages Online is suggested as a guide.

It is recommended that teachers preview websites to ensure they are suitable for their students prior to use in class. Content accessed via these links is not owned or controlled by Asia Education Foundation and is subject to the terms of use of the associated website. Teachers should check each of the video performances regarding their appropriateness prior to being viewed.

  • Daur ulang – Plastik – Gelas – Kaleng (aluminium) – Kertas/Karton
  • Kompos
  • Sampah
  • Daur ulang – Plastik – Gelas – Kaleng (aluminium) – Kertas/Karton
  • Kompos
  • Sampah
  • Daur ulang – Plastik – Gelas – Kaleng (aluminium) – Kertas/Karton
  • Kompos
  • Sampah
  • Kota kasa (vocabulary): Kurangi Dampak Lingkungan

    Waste words
    kurangi reduce
    pakai lagi reuse
    daur ulang recycle, recycling
    kompos compost
    organik organic
    non-organik, anorganik non-organic
    sampah rubbish, trash
    tempat sampah rubbish bin (literally is a place for rubbish)
    aluminium aluminium
    plastik plastic
    tas plastik plastic bag
    barang pecah belah glassware, glass recyclables
    botol bottle
    botol (gelas) glass bottle
    botol plastik plastic bottle
    gelas drinking glass
    kaleng can
    kertas paper
    karton carton, cardboard
    barang item, goods
    barang bekas used, second-hand goods
    sayur-sayuran vegetables (many kinds of, various kinds of)
    buah-buahan fruits (many kinds of, various kinds of)
    daun-daunan leaves, foliage
    kering dry
    basah wet
    Verbs
    mendaur ulang to recycle
    membantu to help
    menghemat to save, to be thrifty, to economise
    menggunakan to use, to make use of
    berguna useful, beneficial
    mengurangi to reduce
    mengganti to change
    memeriksa to check, to inspect
    memilahkan to sort, to classify
    Other useful words
    dampak impact
    lingkungan environment
    pemulung waste picker, rubbish scavenger (of recyclable goods)
    hemat save, thrifty
    aksi action
    kotak makan siang lunchbox (lit. box for lunch)
    bersih clean
    pilah sort, classify
    olah manner, way of doing things, processing (into something else)
    peduli care
    bumi earth
    tas kain fabric bag
    kampanye campaign
    The full resource can not be displayed on a mobile device.

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